COLCHESTER — A cheer of “Happy New Year” rose from about 200 runners Wednesday at the starting line of the Resolution Road Race, a 5K run that’s a major fundraiser for a Bacon Academy class in Colchester.

The run, now in its ninth year, is organized by students in Bacon Academy’s community activism class.

Karen Christianson, an English teacher at the high school, also co-teaches the community activism class with Christopher Juhl.

“It started as a community activism project nine years ago with two seniors, two girls who are here today,” Christianson said. “It was so successful that when they graduated, our class decided to continue it.”

Last year, 237 people registered to run. This year’s number was 201, down a bit probably because of the cold, she said.

The money raised from the run goes to charities chosen by the class, which vary from year to year. They include the local fire department and area food banks.

“Every year we take a trip to New York City with our class and work in food banks and shelters. Some of the money goes to make that happen,” she said.

The 3.2-mile route takes runners down Norwich Avenue to Pleasant Street, onto Halls Hill Road and back to Norwich Avenue and the finish line at the high school.

Melinda Kelly, 25, one of the run’s founders, finished first among women runners, with a time of 19:38.

“It’s a really good day, It was a little cool waking up but it’s warmed up,” she said. Her resolution? “It would be to run the Vermont 50-miler.”

Katelyn Randlov, 25, of Colchester, was in the same class with Kelly.

“She’s a runner. It was her idea. We had to do a project and she said, ‘Let’s do a race,’ and we just went from there...It’s awesome to see it still going on. People love to get the new year started off with this run.”

The first male finisher and overall top runner was Scott Bushey, of Hebron, with a time of 17:14.

Another runner, Tim Macierowski, moved to Colchester three years ago. He ran with his wife, Bobbie, and several friends who were doing it for the first time.

“The first time I ran it was last year,” he said. “It was a New Year’s resolution to run it.”

He lost 45 pounds since then, and “did a whole bunch of races (last) year.”

This year, he’s got a smorgasbord of new resolutions, starting with the run.

“Gonna do some more things for the first time,” he said. “An iron man competition, some yoga, some painting. All new things.”